Monday, November 16, 2009

Welcome Reed NightSword to the Blogging Realm!!!

Light dawns across the spiral, angels singing in the background - Reed NightSword has joined the blogging community!!! Hehe xD!

Welcome to a dear friend and fantastic player! Reed has been a friend of mine nearly as long as I have been playing wizard. He has helped me with all of my characters and he knows literally everything about this game, and I do mean literally. He and his brother hold the record for finishing Grizzleheim the quickest lol. Reed has a talent with houses that I have yet to see anyone else surpass. You've all seen the posts I've done on Reed's houses. His ideas are unique and beautiful. There is not one aspect of this game he does not know. An exemplary player, loyal friend, and a completely awesome person, I am sure his blog will be one to follow. So make sure you watch http://talesofagrandmaster.blogspot.com. If you run into us in game, say hi!

Monday, November 9, 2009

Animate!

I do make rather a lovely krokomummy, don't I?

I do not get as many questions as our dear Friendly Necromancer, but I do get a few now and then. One question that I have received multiple times is about the spell Animate. Animate is of course the death minion spell. Of all the schools that receive minions, this spell is quite unique in that a necromancer is able to summon so many different minions with different traits and health with only one spell. For example, a myth wizard has to use the minotaur minion card to get the minotaur minion. To summon different minions, myth has to keep each of those separate cards in their deck. A necromancer can use animate to summon every minion available to death with only one card. I am not intending to say that death minions are superior to other schools, because each is different. I will keep my opinions out of this - this is an informational post and not one intended for argument about who has the better minions.

As a necromancer, you either use animate to its full potential or probably not at all. Animate can be one of a necromancer's most powerful tools when used correctly, and certainly helps one to solo nearly everything. Animate is useful in questing if you don't mind chancing your minion messing up your setup. Minions have a way of knowing just when you have your feint set and then using some ridiculously low level spell to ruin the setup lol. Animate is also deadly useful in arena (1v1) when used correctly. In my experience in arena, if you shield and boost yourself while retaining pips to summon a high level minion, it typically leaves your opponent trying to kill your minion while you are able to setup and kill them instead. Several times I have setup and shielded, summoned a wraith (death incarnate) and watched my opponent go solely for the minion with 1400 health while ignoring me. Ends in their death lol. Doesn't work every time, but my point is simply that when used correctly, minions can be an advantage in 1v1 in arena.

The question I have received is about how animate works, how many minions can be summoned, what are they, what are their specs, etc... So, I took some time and spent a day playing with animate over and over to see exactly what I could get at each pip level. As my necromancer is a grandmaster, I can't seem to get rid of my power pips no matter what I do, so I may have missed some minions. If that is so, PLEASE post a comment and let me know what you've summoned that I've missed so we can have a complete list. Below you will find a list of each and every minion I was able to summon (the total stands at 14 different minions right now), their rank, health. I will also tell you a sampling of what spells they cast for me. Also included is the pip level at which I summoned them. I have screen shots of most of them as well, which will be included at the end of the post.

Minions summoned using Animate:
  1. Ethereal Servant. Rank 1. 100 health. 1 regular pip.
  2. Charmed Sprite. Rank 2. 200 health. 1 power pip.
  3. Crypt Watchguard. Rank 2. 300 health. 1 power pip, 1 regular pip.
  4. Ghoulish Retainer. Rank 3. 400 health. 2 power pips.
  5. Summoned Soul. Rank 3. 500 health. 2 power pips, 1 regular pip.
  6. Captive Banshee. Rank 4. 600 health. 3 power pips.
  7. Living Scarecrow. Rank 4. 700 health. 3 power pips, 1 regular pip.
  8. Ghostly Spectre. Rank 5. 800 health. 4 power pips.
  9. Enchanted Howler. Rank ?. 900 health. ?.
  10. Crypt Walker. Rank 6. 1000 health. 5 power pips.
  11. Risen Tomb Master. Rank 6. 1100 health. 5 power pips, 1 regular pip.
  12. Skeletal Sergeant. Rank 6. 1200 health. 6 power pips.
  13. Soul Crusher. Rank 6. 1300 health. 6 power pips, 1 regular pip.
  14. Death Incarnate. Rank 7. 1400 health. 7 power pips.
As I said, I may have missed a few because I could not get the pip levels needed to summon some of the lower rank minions. If you know of others, please post a comment. Ok now for the fun part! Pictures of most of the minions:

Ethereal Servant, Rank 1, 100 health.


Charmed Sprite, Rank 2, 200 health.

Crypt Watchguard, Rank 2, 300 health.

Ghoulish Retainer, Rank 3, 400 health.

Summoned Soul, Rank 3, 500 health.

Captive Banshee, Rank 4, 600 health.

Living Scarecrow, Rank 4, 700 health.

Ghastly Spectre, Rank 5, 800 health.

Crypt Walker, Rank 6, 1000 health.

Risen Tomb Master, Rank 6, 1100 health.

Skeletal Sergeant, Rank 6, 1200 health.

Death Incarnate, Rank 7, 1400 health.

The minions all cast very similar spells at their own levels. They cast blades and traps, weakness, and several spells including: FireElf, Lightning Bats, Evil Snowman, FireBird, Kraken, Shark, Taunt, Tower Shields, Vampire, Dark Sprite, Ghoul, Cyclops, Ice Wyvern, and the list goes on. You see that they cast both boosts and damaging spells. All in all, quite helpful. And by no means is this list exhaustive. As I said, this is what I saw the day I was doing research.

Animate can be a wickedly useful spell. Any questions regarding any of this information, please post a comment! I hope I have answered your questions :)


The Countess has Returned to the Spiral :)

Hello! It really is me :) I'm actually back this time. I apologize for my long absence, life just gets in the way sometimes. However, I have worked past those things restricting my time here and I am well and truly back. So much to tell you! So many things have happened in game since I've posted. But as I seem to have a problem with daily content (rofl) I shall save each one for a separate post! Aha! You hate me now lol. Shadowbane has been busy, as have PixieWhisper and StormWeaver. (Wait, did she say StormWeaver? Who's that? Huh? Does the countess have a new wizard? A new grand? Maybe with wings in arena?) Oops. Gave something away there. Oh well, consider that a free teaser :D The point is, I am back and I appreciate your patience. Upcoming today is a post on Animate. I look forward to seeing you all again! Another picture just to tease haha! See ya soon!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Coming Soon...


Once again, I have been remiss in regular posting here. Alas, real life does take precedence sometimes, no matter how much I enjoy the wizarding world! Just a quick note to let you know that I am tying up issues that have kept me from posting for such a long time, and I will be back to posting (hopefully on a very regular basis) very soon. Thank you all for your patience, I greatly appreciate it.


The Countess

Saturday, August 15, 2009

House of the Week UPDATE! Check this out!

After posting about Reed's MooShu Palace, he added a lot more inside and out (enough to max the 150 item limit outdoors), and I tell ya what, that boy has ideas! So, I must post an update so all can see how fabulous this little paradise has become! Reed's palace is an excellent example of what can be done with a house - the possibilities are endless when you have ideas like he has! He has taken an empty simple home and turned it into a place that I love to be - it is simply fantastic and full of surprises! This is also what a guy with 5 grandmasters does with his spare time :). I'm telling you, he has a vision!

The picture above is indeed what it seems. Reed built a massive bridge out of chessboards that starts in a peaceful beautiful grove at one end of his property, circles around, and ends at his favorite spot, giving a fantastic view of the palace and grounds from afar. I mean really, just LOOK at this! It's breathtaking!

Here you can see the grove where the bridge starts.


The bridge ends here, at Reed's favorite spot with the tree, the waterfall, and all the tiger lillies :).

He circled the entryway with trees as well. Such awesome details (of course I'm a sucker for trees lol). Every inch has been customized into a personal paradise, but none of it is the least bit random or thrown together. Everything has been well thought out and items placed to maximize beauty and aesthetic quality.
A view from the spiral door. Reed added trees on either side of the ramp as well which hides the house from view.


My special spot - all the tiger lillies :).


What can I say? There is not one spot on the island that is not beautiful and peaceful. Reed has done a fantastic job.

Reed has made a few changes indoors as well. A wall of dogfish statues.


Enchanted ice cream!

And who knew we could fly!
If you take nothing else from this, take a look at the MooShu Palace next time you have a chance before anyone moves in. See what Reed has taken this place from and what he has created. This should show you the amazing possibilities and the fun you can have with housing! I don't think I can hope to create a place that can compete with this, but it does make me want to try lol. I am excited to see what Reed will do next, and to see which house he will show next. Thank you again Reed -

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Featured House of the Week

Housing is just cool. I know opinions range far and wide on the housing subject from literal obsession with creating the perfect house to thinking the whole idea is ridiculous. I, predictably enough, am one of the first. I think that housing is one of the most unique and customizable options of this game. The ability to choose your house, the items to put into it, working for special drops, farming for statues and rare items, and collecting all sorts of housing items - just fun. But then comes the more difficult part - arranging it into a home and making it purely yours, something different from anyone else. I have visited lots of houses (always up for that lol), and I thought that since many of you do a housing item feature, I would perhaps do a house feature. I think it is incredibly interesting to see how people arrange their homes and how they use both items that everyone receives and more rare drops as well. The first lucky victim, I mean winner, is a very good friend of mine, Reed NightSword, who has opened all of his homes to me. The house showcased today is his first house on his first grandmaster - the MooShu Imperial Palace. In one word? Serenity. Above you see the grand entrance.


The MooShu houses offer a tranquility and peace unlike the rest. They are a place where your mind can rest from the game and enjoy beauty.


Reed's favorite spot. What's not to love? Beautiful tree, waterfall....sigh...


The entry into the palace.









Reed has a number of statues that continue to elude me, including the unicorn. You may have also noticed the trion, the cyclops, colossus, and others.








When you walk inside, a comfortable starry scape awaits. Very welcoming... I have found that houses most often match their owners personality. A lot of "you" goes into the creation of a home. So it is only logical that Reed's house would be a very warm, inviting place to enter.


Always ready for a party :).


The master's room.




Drake egg nestled down on its own bed.


An entire room for crafting - now that is dedication!


Thank you Reed for sharing the first of your beautiful homes with us. Looking forward to seeing the rest of them!